Solenoid (novel)

The novel is presented as a manuscript by an unnamed Romanian writer in the 1980s who claims he will not publish the manuscript. The novel begins with the narrator, an elementary school teacher, describing lice he got from his students. He then begins to reminisce on his life and failed career as an author.

Born in Bucharest in 1956, he suffers from paresis. After finishing his military service, he went to major in literature at a university. While there, he shared an epic poem with his peers at a writing workshop but was ridiculed for it. He later claims he is glad that he wasn't successful in publishing the work.[1] Six distinct solenoids appear throughout the novel.[3]

The novel's protagonist's life intentionally contrasts Cărtărescu's life. For example, the latter presented an epic poem at a workshop to acclaim whereas the former was poorly received in his attempt.[2]

The novel received generally positive reviews. Writing for the New York Times, Dustin Illingworth called the novel "an instant classic of literary body horror" and praised Sean Cotter's translation.[4] Similarly, Alta Ifland writing for The Brooklyn Rail,[3] Will Self writing for The Nation,[2] and Kirkus Reviews[5] praised the novel's Kafkaesque depiction of Romania. Sara Kornfield writing for the Los Angeles Review claimed that it was distinct from a Kafkaesque novel in that it's distinctly Romanian. Likewise, she criticized the classification of it as magical realism.[6] In the Los Angeles Review of Books, Ben Hooyman praised the book's labyrinthine nature and length, contrasting it with Borges's and Kafka's significantly shorter stories, but also wrote "there are moments when Solenoid revisits a motif too many times, or when a lull drags on a little too long".[7]

Solenoid was explicitly mentioned when Cărtărescu won the 2022 FIL Award.[8] The novel won the 2022 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for fiction. [9]